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New York Times’ front-page editorial urges stricter gun control

The New York Times took the unusual step of putting an editorial on its front page Saturday, calling for greater gun control in the wake two separate mass killings in less than a week.

The editorialcalls for outlawing certain kinds of weapons and ammunition for civilian us and is likely to heat up the gun-control debate.

“It is a moral outrage and a national disgrace that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed specifically to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency,” the editorial reads.

“America’s elected leaders offer prayers for gun victims and then, callously and without fear of consequence, reject the most basic restrictions on weapons of mass killing, as they did on Thursday,” the editorial continued. “They distract us with arguments about the word terrorism. Let’s be clear: These spree killings are all, in their own ways, acts of terrorism.”

The editorial comes after 14 people were killed in a shooting Wednesday at a social services center in San Bernadino, Calif. and three others were killed in a shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colo.

It has been many decades since the New York Times reserved space on its front page for an editorial, said Publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr.

“We do so today to deliver a strong and visible statement of frustration and anguish about our country’s inability to come to terms with the scourge of guns,” Sulzberger said in a statement. “Even in this digital age, the front page remains an incredibly strong and powerful way to surface issues that demand attention. And, what issue is more important than our nation’s failure to protect its citizens?”